How I built my own mobile cell tower

Al Lounsbury

What do you do when your favorite cabin getaway is so remote you can't get a good cell signal? If you're Ciena's Al Lounsbury, you build your own mobile cell tower right on top of your cabin.

Al Lounsbury is based in Ciena’s Ottawa Campus and is part of our Digital Marketing team.

Do you have a special place where you love to relax and unwind, but can’t because of a lack of cell phone or mobile data coverage? Or maybe you’re having issues getting good cell reception in your own home where your second office is located. For most people, the answer to these problems is to ‘just deal with it’ or try switching providers. But as an avid do-it-yourselfer and an engineer, that wasn’t my style. My solution was to build my own cell tower.

In my case, I have a cabin in Northern Ontario. It’s beautiful and peaceful there, but the nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away in a town with a population of less than 1,000 people. Cell coverage is spotty at best. If I’m on top of a hill on a clear day, I might be able to pull in one bar on my mobile. In fact, many renters in the area take a daily walk to the top of a nearby hill just to receive their text messages and emails.

So my engineering challenge was to figure out how to obtain great mobile coverage at my cabin, allowing me the occasional Friday work day there versus being in the office cube. Here’s how I did it using common materials you can find online or at your local home improvement store.

Researching Your Needs

Step 1 in the process is to find the nearest cell tower to your location and figure out on what frequency band the tower operates on. Most 3G/4G systems operate in either the 800 (824 to 894) MHz or 1.9 (1.85 to 1.99) GHz band. The 800 MHz band will have a greater range than the 1.9 GHz band due to atmospheric attenuation, hence many carriers prefer the 800 MHz band for greater area coverage.

For my fellow Canadians, here’s a great website which maps all the towers in Canada for multiple carriers and provides details, including their frequency band. You can also check with your mobile carrier and ask the technical support department for the nearest tower and its frequency band. Additionally, you can search your phone’s app store for “cell signal,” and multiple apps will pop up that can help. On Android, I use the Open Signal app, which provides the direction of the nearest and strongest tower. In my case, the nearest Rogers cell tower is located in Bon Echo Provincial Park and operating at 850 MHz. With my research done, it was time to move on to gearing up for the build.

Buying the Components You Need

Your basic list of required components consists of a tower, an outdoor antenna, an indoor antenna, a bi-directional amplifier, and RF cables. For the best performance, make sure that your outdoor antenna is highly directional, essentially a narrow, laser-like beam that points directly to the nearest cell tower. By keeping the antenna highly focused, we ensure that all the signal power is directed at our target tower and not sprayed over a wide area. This is referred to as antenna gain and the higher the gain number the more focused the antenna power will be. The antenna I used is a 13 dbi gain 800 MHz Yagi antenna (fig. 1), found here.

Next up is our indoor antenna. We want to maximize indoor coverage hence the gain number will be much lower, as we aim wide, not far. Also, to keep household peace with the lady of the house, installing an ugly antenna on the wall was “not” an option for me, but luckily a ceiling mount was. By using a dual polarized (vertical & horizontal) ceiling mount antenna, you can provide 360-degree coverage around the antenna with a vertical beam width of 150 degrees down from the antenna to the floor. The one I used (fig. 5, Part #301123) can be found here.

With both antennas in hand, you’ll need to pick out your bi-directional booster. With your booster, it’s all about GAIN and ensuring the gain can be adjusted accordingly. In my case, I picked up a 55 db gain amplifier (fig. 6, here). This worked perfectly and took my cabin from no coverage to 4-5 bars of coverage in any weather condition, including SNOW! That said, if the budget allows for a higher gain amplifier, go for it. The higher gain amplifier will provide better coverage, including the ability to drive more than one indoor antenna if a wider indoor coverage area is needed.

We now have all the major components and just need to connect everything together with good “low loss” RF cable since we do not want to waste precious signal power with leaky high loss RF cables. A good low loss 20-foot cable should have a loss of 1 db or less. And yes, a single db is significant. To put in perspective, a 3 db loss means that the signal power has been reduced by FIFTY percent…yes half! So every db counts, and ensuring one uses ultra-low loss cables is highly recommended if maximum coverage (gain) is needed.

Building the Tower

With our components in hand, we need to identify our antenna placement locations. As the outdoor antenna is highly directional and the indoor antenna is basically focused straight down below the outdoor antenna, we need to ensure that the outdoor antenna does not point over the indoor antenna, allowing for roughly 15 feet of vertical separation. These separation requirements get much stricter if non-directional outdoor antennas are used with panel indoor antennas. In these cases, 20 feet vertical and 20 feet horizontal separation could be required to prevent RF feedback. This feedback is similar to audio feedback that occurs when a microphone (inside antenna) gets too close to the output speakers (outdoor antenna). If feedback does occur, your amplifier will shut down, so make sure that you space each antenna carefully.

The tower itself is a simple thing to build. And for me, a trip to Home Depot was all that was required. I used 1 ¼” galvanized pipe in 6 foot sections for the tower (fig. 3) and a shorter 4 foot 2” pipe (fig. 2) to anchor into the ground. Although steel pipe would be cheaper, it also requires painting to ensure it does not rust, so I rejected that option.

You’ll need to drive the 2” pipe into the ground with a sledgehammer or the back of an axe to allow the 1 ¼” pipe to slide into it as shown in figure 2. Space the pipe away from the home’s foundation about the same distance as the upper strap you’ll use to secure the pole at the roof line. This will help ensure your tower is vertical and not leaning one way or the other. Having a directional antenna pointing 10 degrees down or up would not be good.

After securing your tower, attach the Yagi antenna to the 1 ¼” pole using the mounting hardware provided with the antenna. Don’t forget to attach your ultra-low loss cable and use electrical tape to strap the cable to the pole so wind does not cause the cable to wear.

To get the height you need, simply add additional 6’ pole sections from the bottom up using couplers (shown in figure 3) to push the antenna higher while taping down the cable on the side of the pole. By adding sections to the bottom at ground level, you keep yourself off the roof. In my case I have five 6’ sections holding up the antenna for a total height from the ground of 30’. Use galvanized strapping (fig. 4) at the roofline to secure the pole into position so it does not fall or sway to one side or the other.

At the roofline, find a place (soffit vent or drill a hole) to feed the antenna cable into your attic/home and point the antenna roughly in the direction of the nearest cell tower. We’ll fine-tune the placement later.

For the indoor antenna location, this is a good time to consult with your spouse, as I did with the lady of my cabin. The only placement requirements are that it cannot be in the same vertical line as the outdoor antenna and should be near the indoor area where the coverage is needed most. So the winning location for me was on the ceiling by the cabin’s entrance as shown in figure 5.

Now it’s time to head up to the attic to mount the amplifier and connect all the RF cables. The amplifier should be placed in a convenient easy to access location in case maintenance is ever needed. I placed mine on a rafter that is right beside the attic hatch as shown in figure 6.

In order to minimize power consumption, I turned the gain of the 1.9 GHz band as low as possible since I didn’t need any 1.9 GHz power. I then maximized the gain of the 850 MHz band. In your case the opposite may be true, but you should only need one band maxed out.

You’re almost done, but I do have a couple of final recommendations. First, it’s a good idea to install lightning surge protection, in figure 7, as this is an electrically conductive metal pole that reaches high up into the air. This surge protector gets installed on the outside antenna side of the amplifier and needs a good grounding wire on it to conduct any lighting surges to the ground, safely away from the amplifier. It’s important to know that anytime a lighting strike is “near” the antenna that it will produce a surge. Surge protection is a great investment and it only introduces a 0.2 db loss. Protecting your investment properly is highly recommended.

Secondly, consider installing an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) on the amplifier so you can continue to have cell coverage even when there is a power failure. There is nothing like streaming a good movie when the power is out, and having a phone available for emergency calls is valuable.

With all the RF cables firmly connected, it’s time to power up the amplifier. The amplifier’s lights will initially start blinking green, and in 15 minutes they should stay solid if all is working correctly. If you don’t get solid green lights, consult the amplifier’s troubleshooting guide, but for me, the first attempt gave me all green lights!

Once powered up, it’s time for the final step: aligning the antenna for maximum reception. Although the bars on a cell phone can be useful for casually gauging reception, they lack accuracy and only update once every 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the brand. However, every mobile phone has a hidden test mode that will update the signal strength every second. Many of these codes can be found from searching on Google for “<insert mobile brand name> test mode codes” or at https://www.weboost.com/us/test-mode-instructions/. You’ll be looking for the dial sequence to input in order to access the test mode.

After entering your code, select UMTS, debug, and basic. The key numbers are RSCP (received strength coded power) and Ec/lo which is a ratio of good energy over bad energy akin to a signal to noise ratio. Getting an Ec/lo of -10db and higher (meaning less negative) is ideal. While watching the RSCP number, turn the antenna a couple of degrees and then wait for the numbers to update. There will be a place where RSCP and Ec/lo maximize themselves, which represents your optimal direction. At this point, you’re done!

By now your remote location should have awesome 3G/4G cell and data coverage, enabling you to leverage some of today’s technological niceties. For example, I can now control and monitor the heating in my cabin, right from my cell phone. As I drive up to the cabin in winter (6 months in Canada), I bring up the app on my phone and turn the heat on so it’s nice and cozy when I arrive. There are lots of advantages to having a stable data signal that we could go into, but of course, that is another blog entry all by itself.

Have any questions on how I did it? Just ask in the comments box below.

[Before beginning any project to boost your wireless signal as Al describes above, be sure to ask the manufacturer of the cellular amplifier about local regulations for both your wireless provider and your local area. For example, in the U.S. the FCC recently adopted rules to ensure the reliability of individual cellular networks by having people operating cellular signal boosters register them with their mobile provider. No such rules exist in Canada at the time this was published.]

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October 3, 2016
4:42 PM PDT

by
Colleen

Hi, I found your article to be very interesting, I am looking at purchasing a large property in a rural area soon but when we went out to view the property there was little or no mobile reception, would this system work the same in Australia ? We had good reception 5 minutes down the road, it is in a hilly area as well so that may cause some problems.Looking forward to your reply.

Regards Colleen

October 4, 2016
10:21 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ColleenIf there is good reception just 5 minutes down the road, and if occasionally you get some reception on the ground then this system would certainly provide you a solid solution. As described in the article you want a very high gain (directional) exterior antenna at the frequency band of your nearest tower which is key to the solution. Just check with your mobile service provider on the nearest towers, the elevation and the frequencies each operates at. Hopefully you're operating in the 850 or 900 Mhz bands as they have a better reach. The other aspect for around the house is to leave your mobile phones near the indoor antenna for solid voice reception and then use a connect to cell(tm) cordless phone system like https://telephones.att.com/pd/2396/TL96273-2-handset-Connect-to-Cell-answering-system-with-caller-ID-call-waiting. These systems have a base station that can connect to multiple mobile phones via bluetooth but then uses DECT 6.0 to connect the base station to the cordless handset at incredible ranges. I use this system at my cabin which allows me to take phone calls while out fishing on the boat. Hope that helps.

October 24, 2016
3:46 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Great web page, with awesome information.

I have a couple of questions though.....

1. Where did you buy the amplifier? There is no link, and no one sells the Wilson unit you bought. It's all "weboost" and very expensive.

2. What cable do you use to hook it all up? Is RG6 ok? I have tons left over from a house build. and are all the connectors compatible? I.e can you use f connectors, and fame connectors with rg6 (assuming I,can even use rg6)?

I,can hopefully piece together something inexpensive via eBay but I want to be sure about the cabling andnnectors.

Thanks

October 25, 2016
7:44 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@BrendanSorry about the broken link which will be fixed. Wilson changed their name to weboost so they are the same company and products. I would comment that their kits are reasonably priced, [ example https://store.weboost.com/products/connect-3g-directional ] as you get a 65db amplifier, directional outdoor antenna, indoor antenna, cable, access to expert technical support and confidence they are supported by the major carriers for registration as required in some countries. There are various web resellers that offer sales on weboost kits from time to time which is how I purchased my kit and various resellers are also listed at https://store.weboost.com/pages/find-a-retailer

As for using RG6 that depends on the system you decide to purchase. Most systems including the one described in this blog have an impedance of 50 ohms which means you need to use a 50 ohm cable (RG58, LMR400, etc) and again the lower the loss per foot the better as every db counts when amplifying. A good reference for cables is at http://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html.

RG6 is for 75 ohm systems and cannot be mixed with 50 ohm systems just as 50 ohm cannot be mixed with 75 ohm systems. Unfortunately the impedance mismatch between the amplifier/antenna and cable will result in signal reflections on the cable and extremely poor power transfer.

Hope that helps and good luck with your project, as these systems are awesome. In fact, because of my system I am responding to you from my cabin. :)

Regards Al

October 25, 2016
6:34 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Al, thanks for the quick response!

If you don't mind... a few more questions?

1. Now that I know what cable to buy, does it matter which connectors? I.e the soho 60 and 65 models use different connectors. Are adaptors ok to use if I buy pre bought cables? Or would I be best served buying a spool of bulk cables, and then the appropriate connectors and crimping tool?

2. Is it money wasted on an amplifier with all the ranges? The closest Rogers tower to me is 850/2100, but there is also a bell tower at 1900. A sales guy from a booster company tried talking me into the "deluxe 4g model" to cover all my bases and future proof.

My phone is unlocked so I can switch to whoever is using the frequency I need, but I don't mind paying a bit more to future proof. Buy once cry once as they say.

Thanks again!

October 30, 2016
6:29 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan - Part 1So let's tackle the adapter question first. Adapters are "OK" to use however they do introduce additional loss in the cable path and provide another point of failure. I personally prefer to avoid using adapters if possible just to ensure we have minimized the loss and failure points within the cable plant. As for buying bulk cable and a crimping tool, that is a great solution if you're comfortable with using a crimping tool. The reason this is a great solution is because you can cut the cable to the actual length needed, thereby reducing excess cable loss. Not to mention the cable is much easier to thread through walls/roofs without a connector on the end of it. For the external cable I would recommend either using a factory cable that has a good weatherproof connector attached on "one end" for the external antenna or if you crimp the external connector yourself, encase it with a silicon plumber’s paste to ensure its weatherproof. This way we ensure a good weatherproof connection externally which is important since the last thing anyone wants to do is take down a high tower to fix a weather deteriorated crimp at the top. And especially for us in northern climates with snow & ice, the last thing we need is some water trapped in the connector/cable that freezes and cracks them....

October 30, 2016
6:30 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan - Part 2

As for the question is money wasted buying a multi-band amplifier? Since 850 is a viable option for you, then all you need is the 850 Mhz band. If you get another band at no additional cost, then good. Now for the reasons why. First, 850 Mhz has a significantly greater range than 1900 (1.9 Ghz) or 2100 (2.1 Ghz) due to lower atmospheric attenuation and "objects/trees/weather" in the path. So if trying to connect to a tower that's a long way away, 850 is the band to use. The second issue is the external antenna. All antennas are designed to be optimal at a specific frequency. For example, the weboost wide band antenna 314411 [ https://store.weboost.com/products/314411 ] has a gain of only 8.1 dbi @ 850 but 10.6 dbi @1900. So the gain at 850 is 2.5 db lower (almost 50%) in power which is huge. In contrast, the weboost antenna 301111 [ https://store.weboost.com/products/301111 ] has a gain of 10.8 dbi @ 850 which is 2.7 db (almost 2x the power) better than the wideband antenna. And any system designer will say, we fight for every db possible to achieve maximum range and performance. And finally, 850 Mhz is not going away anytime in the near future for the reasons above. It's a highly sought after band by all carriers.

Good luck and hope that helps.

November 12, 2016
6:30 AM PST

by
Lisa Marie

Hi, great article. Thank you. We live in Southern Ontario in the middle of a 36 acre forest. In the winter, when the leaves are off the trees, we can see the cell tower down the road from us. Do you think building our own tower would work to get the signal? How do we know how tall we would need to build it? We currently use a turbo hub which is very frustrating and expensive. We're hoping to find some way to access the cell tower signal. Thank you for any ideas or suggestions. Lisa Marie

November 14, 2016
6:43 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@LisaI am assuming the Turbo hub is being used for both data and voice within the house, and disconencting on you more often than not causing the frustration. If this is the ZTE MF275 TurboHub, it can use any of the following frequencies: HSPA+ 850 (my favorite band), HSPA+ 1900, and LTE 700/1900/2600. So the first thing you need to do, is check what frequencies that tower near you is using from the link in this blog post or calling your provider. Hopefully it's using 850 Mhz since that has the longest reach. Once that is confirmed, then you can absolutely build the system described here for significantly improving your signal strength. As for the height of the tower, if you can see the tower when the leaves are down then I assume there are no major hills in your path. So in this case I would like to be at least 6-10 feet above the roof line and then find a location where you can at least minimize the number of trees in the path. Some trees are acceptable so it's just about finding an optimum location. Hopefully that helps, but feel free to post another comment if I misunderstood your question.

Regards Al

February 1, 2017
8:07 AM PST

by
Patrick

Hi Al,

This is really a great article. I live on a farm in hilly and forested southern Costa Rica and do not get signal from a tower about four miles away. Our house is located near the top of a large hill (and in the forest), but is in the 'shadow' of the the cell signal which reaches across the valley below and works fine on the other hilltop facing us and the tower. Like your scenario - we often hike across to the other hilltop to download emails. I'm pretty tired off all that :)

So I know the signal reaches far enough - I just need to catch it. Behind our house is a very large straight tree (about 50 feet) that clears the top of the hill. My plan is to put a powerful antenna like the GiAnt™ Ultra-High Gain directional antenna on top of it and see what happens. I'm pretty sure the tower is on 850, but I'll confirm that soon.

I was particularly impressed by your project because, like me, you were starting from no signal. I'm kinda worried I'll drag all this gear down here, set up, and still have no service. So my question is: what can I do to improve my chances of success? Increase the height of the antenna? The power of the antenna? Something else?

Also, is there a way to hook a large antenna straight to an iPhone? The use the data as a hotspot? Bypassing the need for a booster?

Looking forward to your thoughts,

Patrick

February 1, 2017
11:33 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@PatrickLove the question of "how to improving chances of success". So to create the highest probability of success we need to maximize the gain of the entire system and minimize all losses. So step 1, the antenna. Once you discover the frequency you need, ensure the gain of the antenna at that specific frequency is as high as possible! Many antennas and amplifiers advertise a wide frequency range with a max gain number, but don't show the frequency gain curve for where that maximum gain occurs. So if 850 Mhz is the target frequency, ensure the gain is maximum @850. Next is the amplifier and again look for the highest gain amplifier at that frequency. The Weboost Connect 3GX is one of my favorite amplifiers with 70db of gain. And finally is the cable itself. I'm a fan of N-type connections and 50 ohm cabling. So referring to http://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html you'll see that RG58/U has an attenuation (loss) of 16.5 db per 100 feet at 900 Mhz which is a huge number. However by using LMR-400, this number drops to 3.9 db /100 feet at 900 Mhz, which is a significant removal of 12.6 db of loss over 100 feet. Keep in mind that 1 db could be the difference between a working signal and no signal. I've also seen people accidentally mix up cable and device types. So if your system is 50 ohms impedance, make sure all devices; antennas, amplifier and cable have an impedance of 50 ohms and not 75 ohms. A mismatch in impedance between any two connections will seriously impact performance. As for the height of the antenna, the trick is to try and get the best "line of sight" to the nearest cell tower to reduce signal loss in the atmospheric path. In this regard, the trick is normally to clear the tree top line, since trees increase the signal loss in the atmospheric path. Good luck and hope this helps.

Regards Al

February 2, 2017
7:55 AM PST

by
Courtney

Hey, I love your article. I live in Socorro, NM and the only service I can get is Verizon. I want to switch to a better carrier but their signal doesn't reach. 1. My home is a trailer with no attic and I can't attach anything to the roof. Would it possible to make it a free standing tower with the wires and such going in through a window? 2. About how much did this cost you to make? I don't make too much money and am hoping to not spend my soul trying to build this thing. I hope to hear from you soon.

March 5, 2017
5:46 PM PST

by
Chris

I am in a holler in Kentucky. At have a steep hillside that I can climb and get great signal. It's probably 800 ft run. Can the RF cable carry the signal that far to the amplifier??? The distance seems to great

March 9, 2017
5:05 PM PST

by
Chris

How far can I run a wire from antenna. I get good signal if I go up a hill about 750 ft. Can I run a wire from the antenna to the amplifier that far

March 16, 2017
1:44 PM PDT

by
Meghan

This is a great post.

March 17, 2017
5:10 PM PDT

by
Laura

Hi Al. I'm curios if this would work for an outside area as well? We get very poor reception in our yard, surrounded by trees. If we put an antenna on one of the buildings, would it increase our signal outside in the yard too? Most sites only talk about getting signal indoors.

April 8, 2017
11:57 AM PDT

by
Diego G. van Dyk

Hi there, great article, I was wondering on the following hypothesis. Our cellphones continuously look for cell phone towers, I was wondering if info from our phone is passed to that tower. If so, is that info unique and identifiable, if that's true, isn't it possible that we can create a people counter based on that info?

April 13, 2017
8:02 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@CourtneyFirst, apologize for my delay in responding since I try to respond to these within 48 hours.So, a free standing tower is equally acceptable. I'm not a fan of running wires through a window since over time they do tend to get damaged with the window opening/closing. I would suggest however just running the wire either through the floor/wall somewhere. If you have a phone/satellite line coming in, you could use those locations. For me, I just drilled a small 1/2" hole through the wall, made sure I had a small drip loop outside so the water would drip down at the bottom of the loop and then through the wall with lots of chalking to seal the hole. The costs vary but I would budget around $600 USD for everything. One of my favorite weboost amplifiers is the Connect 4G with 65 db of gain and you should be able to find a dealer to sell you a kit for around $500. Don't forget this is a "one time' cost with no additional fees and the one I'm using to send this email has been operational now for 5+ years with no problems. Good luck.

April 13, 2017
8:17 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ChrisSounds like quite the workout to climb that steep hillside in Kentucky. So an 800 ft cable is way too long as that would introduce at least 48 db of cable loss so any remaining signal after that path would be in noise floor unfortunately. That said, all is not lost. If the signal is that strong at the top of the hill, why not build a 50 foot tower with an outdoor directional antenna as described in this article. A good directional antenna will have a very high intrinsic gain. The one I used has a 13 dbi gain and the higher the number the better. These directional antenna's have the ability to really capture a signal at a specific location. And don't forget about checking with your carrier for other cell towers in your area. Although the one at the top of the hill may be the nearest one, there could be a tower in the opposite direction away from the hill that a system like this can easily pull into your home. So the nearest tower is not always the best tower to point the antenna at which is not an obvious solution.

Hope that helps and best of luck.

April 13, 2017
8:30 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@LauraThe solution will work outdoors however all the indoor aspects of this solution are not weatherproof, hence why all the sites talk about indoors only. Now one solution would be to have a small weather proof container/shed in the middle of the yard with power for the electronics and then use two outdoor antennas with a good degree of separation. I would use the directional antenna to aim at the nearest tower and then an outdoor omni-directional as the indoor antenna near the ground, say 4-6 feet off the ground. This approach provides a weatherproof solution and coverage in your yard.

If you have any more questions, please ask and apologize for the late response.

Regards Al

April 13, 2017
8:41 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@DiegoSo yes, mobile device pass encrypted electronic device/carrier/network identification to the mobile tower that is unique to that specific mobile device, not the human. And in this Internet of Things world we currently live in, where vending machines, automobiles, ATM's, security cameras and much more communicate via cell towers, unfortunately it becomes impossible to separate out the machines from the humans except in the back end office systems held by the carriers. So it would be very interesting to know the population growth of both (smart machines/humans) using a tower these days, but then again, do we really want to know.Interesting question and thanks.Al

April 15, 2017
12:06 PM PDT

by
David

This was very interesting. Thanks for posting it. We just bought a cabin at Culloden Lake, which is 15 minutes north of Kenora. Sounds like you are in a similar area. We get no service at the cabin, but 2 bars up a hill 100 m from our back door. Your solutions may work for us as well.

April 27, 2017
5:38 AM PDT

by
tammy

Hello, i have a situation that seems very similar to what yours was, only im in wa state. My provider is tmobile and my tower is running on 1900lt and 2100lt according to tech at tmobile. It has taken me some time to find this, High-Gain-28dBi-SMA-Plug-4G-696-960MHz-1710-2690MHz-Yagi-Antenna, I am really not a very technical person and this confuses me a bit, seems to me to cover what i need. Am I correct in assuming this? I was a bit surprised to find the tech person at tmobile very interested in as to whether or not this ends up working for me and asked that i let her know once its complete, she acted as if she hadnt heard of this sort of thing being done, I wonder how that is even possible. I would really appreciate your input on the antenna I have found. Thank you so much for your article.Tammy

April 27, 2017
7:09 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@TammyGreat question since I find many yagi antennas that are on Amazon/Ebay are "just to good to be true" and I suspect that is the case with this one as well. What these antennas fail to disclose is the actual frequency response curve/range since the antenna gain at any one frequency is not the same at another frequency. The antenna you referenced says 28dbi, which is probably true at 800 Mhz but it could be -10dbi @ 1900. So we just don't know if this is the right antenna or not for your application. All good antenna manufacturers will advertise their frequency-gain response curve, so if you don't see that defined it's probably not worth buying. Now in your case, I would recommend a 1900 MHz yagi like the Weboost one @ https://store.weboost.com/products/1900mhz-yagi-antenna . If you look at the specifications, we see a gain of 12.5 dbi @ 1900 but notice that at 2110 Mhz it falls to negative 10.6 dbi. So this antenna is tuned for performance at 1900 which is perfect in your case.Hope that helps and thanks for the question.

Regards Al

April 27, 2017
7:22 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@DavidHope you're enjoying the cabin like I do. I just looked on the cellular map for Culloden Lake and if you proceed with this solution, it will be interesting to see if the Kenora towers (south-east) or ones located due south at Clearwater Bay will offer you the best reception. So keep this in mind since I would certainly aim the Yagi antenna at each location to see which one provides you the best reception inside the cabin. Also keep in mind that the 800 Mhz band will offer better range performance than the LTE bands at 1900 and 2100 Mhz especially through the woodlands of our north.Regards Al

April 28, 2017
9:09 AM PDT

by
Scott

EXCELLENT article, Al. Thank you. I too am an EE and have tried similar things with the Wilson amplifier but you have given me several new ideas to try. Our cabin is also in Northern Ontario (SW arm of Lake Temagami) with 2-3 towers that I can point to on Hwy 11. Some questions still lingering...- Is there a way to know in advance which tower will be best (distance vs hills/mountains in the way)? Rogers vs Bell towers?- You say you went up 30' with your pole (much higher than I had done) - is there a way to know in advance approximately how high I would need to go (again distance, topography, tower, etc.. being the variables). I would not want to bring 5 sections of pipe down the lake, and then find out I need two more!- Would it be possible to put the antenna at the top of a large tree, rather than erect a pole? I have some enormous pines nearby (yes that will likely fall on my cabin someday knowing my luck).

Again THANK YOU. I have been searching for this info for a long time. Much appreciated.

Scott

April 28, 2017
9:22 AM PDT

by
Scott

oh and any thoughts on this booster? https://store.weboost.com/products/eqo-4g

Scott

April 28, 2017
12:33 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

Ahhhhhhh, the million dollar question as to which tower to point to. I dare say it's almost impossible to predict the atmospheric attenuation path between your cabin and the tower, but here's some helpful ideas. From the reference Canadian cell tower website above, look at the frequency map and the lower (700 Mhz) the better since less affected by the atmospheric path. Then look at the tower elevation (elevation + height). The higher the better since removes nearby terrain from being part of the attenuation path and hopefully provides a better line of sight to your cabin. You could borrow a telescope and look at the path along that bearing to determine if a serious hill is in the path. Also, look at the azimuth of the actual transceiver on the tower. The antenna azimuth indicates the angle from true north of the direction of maximum radiated power, so I would guess your looking for a azimuth of around 270 from Hwy 11. An omni directional transceiver antenna usually has an azimuth of 0°. So not a question of Bell vs Rogers, but more of a question of who provides you the best transceiver with the best power on a tower to aim at. As an example, the Rogers tower above Marten River has a transceiver operating at 700 Mhz, total height of 400m, azimuth of 220 and Tx Pwr of 40W. The other transceiver at 700 Mhz is about the same height, but the azimuth is 185 and the Tx Pwr is only 20W, half of Rogers. So in this case, the Rogers transceiver provides you the best solution on that tower.

As for placing the antenna on a tree, yes that is possible but I find in a strong wind as the tree sways so does your signal strength/dropped calls. If there is a part of the tree that does not sway much it could be a solution for you, ignoring the impact of any broken branches falling on the antenna.

Hope that helps and great questions.

Al

April 28, 2017
12:35 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ScottAs for the eqo-4g amplifier, it has a fantastic gain of 60db over 700-800 Mhz. I would not buy the entire kit if you can avoid it since I would recommend a different outdoor high gain Yagi antenna designed for 700-800 Mhz operation like the https://store.weboost.com/products/301111 which has an N-connector, so you'll need an adapter for SMA to N type at the amplifier. I've found various authorized dealers in the US, will allow you to mix and match components. For example I've order many items from Rock Signal (http://www.rocksignal.com/) in New Jersey, albeit the canadian dollar right now is not great compared to the US. Anyways, just an option to consider.

Would love to hear how your project goes and hoping this helps. I personally love my coverage at the cabin.

Regards Al

May 16, 2017
11:11 AM PDT

by
Dominic

Hi, wow great article. Can you help me, we have a place up north of Montreal 55, Chemin de l'Oasis, Ferme-Neuve, QC, CA, J0W 1C. I see 3 towers, I'm with Telus and 2 towers are Bell and 1 is Rogers. I think it would be better to try to point to the Bell tower on the green hill(cell tower website) cause it's at 746 Meters. Their is a lot of trees and I'm not sure how you know where to direct the antenna from over their. We have no bar but restaurant near by as antenna kit and signal. Before I purchase a kit I just want to make sure it will work, thank you for your help....

May 16, 2017
12:52 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@DominicThe Bell tower in Montagne du Diable Regional Park (green) looks very promising on many accounts. It's 700 Mhz (low atmospheric attenuation), 32 watts, azimuth of 320 degrees which should be close to the bearing for your cabin with an elevation of 790 (height + elevation) meters. So all good and very promising. The second option would be the Rogers tower in Ferme-Neuve since it's 700 Mhz, 40 watts of power, azimuth of 290 degrees and has an elevation of 426 m. So both of these towers could be possibilities for you. Next we need to ensure you design your system with maximum gain (amplifier and antenna) and minimum losses (good RF cable) with a reasonable antenna height to clear any local foliage. As for how to direct your antenna, the first step is to use a good GPS compass app on your phone/tablet, then plug in the co-ordinates of the tower from the web site to see what direction/bearing it is from your cabin. Since the phone/tablet will not have any internet connection it will not be able to overlay the landscape, but the GPS aspect will certainly give you a bearing to point the antenna at. Then do the fine tuning as per the blog post above. Finally always buy your weboost system from an authorized vendor who offer a 100% 30 day refund with no restocking fees just in case it does not work. As your distances seem to match mine, I have faith in your solution working. Good luck.

May 17, 2017
6:03 AM PDT

by
Dominic

Thank you, you are the best....

May 17, 2017
12:58 PM PDT

by
Sonya

Hi. Thank you so much for your article - It helped meImmensely setting up my booster system at my cabin. My tower is 36 feet high. I have a 11dbi directional outdoor antenna and a panel indoor antenna. My booster is a 65 gain. The vertical separation between the antennas is around 25 feet with about 15 feet horizontal separation. I am north of marmora, Ontario and the closest rogers towers are here N44.6786 W77.5803 and here N44.5744 W77.5117. I have used OpenSignal to point to the closest signal (the first one). Both towers broadcast in the 850 range and are elevated between 325 and 400 feet. I get a -86 as far as reception when I plug my booster in ( and all green lights)...then what happens is I start to use my phone and inevitably, either right away or sometimes after a few minutes, the 850 alarm goes off and the green light turns off....it will then eventually come back on - but the signal goes with it when the light goes off of course. I have experimented with indoor antenna placement and I have tried pointing the antenna to different towers in the area using open signal. To no avail. Do you have any ideas as to what else I could do to troubleshoot? When the connection is on - it is strong and powerful! The problemIs keeping it up. Thank you again for all your help. Sonya

May 17, 2017
1:17 PM PDT

by
Sonya

Hi - forgot to say that the towers are between 25-40 km away - forested/hilly

Sonya

May 18, 2017
6:19 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@SonyaPart 1: (To avoid post character limit )Now Marmora certainly brings backs memories as I spent many a summers in Madoc as a teen. Now this situation sounds like a feedback issue as described in the blog post. Basically, the indoor antenna pattern is being picked up by the external antenna to create a feedback loop. So, a couple of things to watch for. The external directional antenna should be aimed away from your home. Hence if the cell tower you're aiming at is south of your home, then the antenna should be located on the south side of the building. This prevents the external antenna beam from overlapping with the inside antenna beam. Increasing vertical separation will help, but always best to ensure the external antenna is directional and placed on the side of the building closest to the cell tower. The second aspect is the inside antenna. If the external antenna is aimed south and on the south side of the building, then the inside antenna should be aimed 180 degrees from that bearing, so pointing north in this example. This provides the best isolation between the external and internal antennas which will allow for maximum gain.

Now I'm curious which amplifier you have since most amplifiers either have a manual gain adjuster (like mine does) or a very good automatic gain adjuster that will automatically lower the gain of the amplifier as required to prevent this feedback situation. You may wish to call your supplier to see why the amplifier is not automatically lowering the gain to prevent this.

... continued in part2

May 18, 2017
6:20 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Sonya - Part 2The last trick in the book is to add some attenuation (loss) to your system to lower the overall gain of the system. Since you're in Canada, a 10 db antennuator ( https://wilsonamplifierscanada.ca/10db-attenuator-w-n-female-50ohm-859926/ ) between the external antenna and the amplifier will lower the system gain and should prevent this feedback loop from occurring. But only do this after talking with the amplifier vendor, since the amplifier should be doing this automatically and adding loss to the system is just a bad practice.

Good luck

May 18, 2017
7:53 AM PDT

by
sonya

Hi Al - thank you for your reply. My booster is a uniden cellular model and it does have the manual gain control for both 1.9 GHz and 850 MHz. I did as you suggested and turned the gain of the 1.9 GHz band as low as possible since that power is not needed. The booster allows one to manually attenuate the db gain of the device in increments of 5 and 10 db with a maximum of 15 db...I have tried this in various combinations and I succeed in getting the light to stay on, but then my signal is too weak to connect to anything! Agh!!! This weekend, I will try moving the indoor antenna around again as per your suggestions to ensure no feedback is happening....I think/hope I'm close to getting it! Thanks again - I really appreciate you taking the time to help. Sonya

May 18, 2017
9:02 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@SonyaSounds like you are close to a solution.

One other aspect you could consider is placing a lightweight RF shielding fabric between your indoor and outdoor antenna, typically placed in your attic. These fabrics offer an additional 40db of antenna isolation to prevent this feedback problem between antennas and can be found online from places like amazon.

Good luck and remember you have already solved the biggest challenge of which tower to use. Now to isolate your antennas which is the easier problem of the two to solve.

Regards Al

June 7, 2017
10:13 AM PDT

by
Richard

Hi Al,

This is a really great and helpful blog and It's even better since you are so gracious to answer additional questions. Well here are a few more. I was wondering about how far your closest tower is from you and is your 0 to 4-5 bars increase on just 3G or 4G as well? Do you know how much of that increase was antenna related and how much was booster? I also have a cabin in Northern Ontario near Alban and we have been using Rogers for the past 6 years or so. According to the Tower location website, we are about 16 and 19 kilometers from two towers, both of which have 700MHz signal. Last year we purchased a new ZTE MF275R with the dual paddles. It worked but would slow down in the afternoon. I'd like to install a pole mounted dual antenna and see what that does to improve signal before spending $400 on a booster.

June 11, 2017
5:45 PM PDT

by
Andrew Fischer

Al, I can get LTE about 1-2 miles Diagonally through a national Forrest from our cabin site. I also have an open field near me. http://imgur.com/fc5Oph4 . That is a picture of the property. The direction of the arrow is the direction in which the closest cell tower is (15 miles). Now, I get zero service at the camp site. If I go to the main road entrance to get to the camp site there is LTE service and in town, about 5 miles diagonally NE from the picture. Would erecting a 50ft tower and putting a directional attenna work? Or am I shooting in the dark?

June 19, 2017
11:23 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@AndrewNow that's the definition of a cabin in the woods. So a couple of observations. We need to know the LTE band/frequency being used and what direction/azimuth from that nearest tower is max power. The most common LTE bands are 1.9 and 2.1 Ghz, which is very sensitive to atmospheric/foliage attenuation. Hence if that's the band you are targeting, I would say this becomes a long shot for sure. If you're attempting to use the lower LTE band or a 3G/4G band between 700 and 850 Mhz, then there is a chance. Now we need to know the actual tower antenna azimuth and power output. A 700-850 Mhz tower with an power output of 20 watts or better aimed in your direction with a good elevation improves the chances even more.And here's another idea to help answer the question "Will it work?". If you have access to a good drone with a camera, mount a cell phone on the drone with the drone camera pointing at the display to record whether the cell phone obtains coverage or not. Next fly the drone straight up 50 feet, let it hover for a few minutes and then bring it back down. If the cell phone connects to tower, then this solution will definitely work for you.

Hope that helps a bit. If you do try, ensure you can return the system for a full refund if it fails to connect. Most weboost distributors offer you that protection.

Good luck.

June 20, 2017
5:19 PM PDT

by
Jesus

what is the longest distance from the tower to the house? In my case the tower need to be about 50 mts from the house to get the signal. Is it a wireless one that can receive the signal and re-direct it to the house? thanks.

June 22, 2017
12:38 PM PDT

by
sha

I am a seasonal resident of northern wi, and cell tower coverage as everyone knows is challenging at times. Look forward to hearing about new ideas and information for living in the north woods and having technology in your back door. :)

June 26, 2017
6:22 PM PDT

by
Andrew Fischer

Al, Well I figured out that I have two towers apparently per open signal close by(less than 2-3 miles each). Since I have TMobile they only operate on 1700,1900,2100. I feel like I have a good chance just need to find a drone. I attached the screenshot of the open signal tower location. If I bought the weboost antenna that goes frombeing700-2100, an amplifier, and an indoor antenna, I feel like I should get something even with no signal present if the antenna is mounted high enough. My questions is, couldn't I at least see if there is a signal with just the antenna and an amplifier or would I need another indoor antenna to "cast" the signal. From your guide I can gather that the directional antenna "grabs" signal,zahner amplifier boosts it, and then indoor antenna allows the phone to see the signal gathered from the outside. Correct? I did attach a picture of the tower location with a black dot for home location. https://imgur.com/gallery/VJT3p

June 27, 2017
1:40 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@AndrewIf only 2-3 miles, then sounds like you have a reasonable chance as my connection is 15 miles albeit @800 Mhz. As for the external antenna, in order to get the most gain we need a "narrow" band antenna and not wideband. So the 1900Mhz Yagi antenna (https://www.weboost.com/products/1900mhz-yagi-antenna) offers a gain of 12.5 db @1900 Mhz which is awesome and perfect for your application. Amplifiers on the other hand tend to be multi-stage so cover a wider band, and the weBoost 4G-X (https://www.weboost.com/products/connect-4gx) offers up to 70 db of gain at LTE band 2 (1900 MHz). And unfortunately, you do need an indoor antenna that needs to be isolated from the outdoor antenna to prevent amplifier feedback as described in the article. So the outdoor antenna is highly focused towards the tower, where the inside antenna tends to be a wider beam (less focused) to capture the internal cell phone. Hope that helps, but 2-3 miles sounds achievable.

Al

July 12, 2017
8:06 PM PDT

by
Jaypee

Hello Sir Is is possible to build low-cost portable mini cell sites?

July 13, 2017
1:10 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@JaypeeUnfortunately, nothing that is fully optimized for maximum efficiency is inexpensive. The critical components to this solution working in fringe areas are very high gain antennas, ultra low loss RF cabling and high gain, low noise amplifiers. All of these items carry a cost premium unfortunately.Now if you're not looking for a fully optimized system and if you're not operating in a fringe area weBoost does make mobile solutions called their Drive series (example https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-4gx) which can easily make a good portable solution and powered by DC batteries.Regards Al

July 16, 2017
2:34 PM PDT

by
Gerri

Will this cell tower work with a medal roof?

July 17, 2017
10:42 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Gerri,Actually a metal roof is a good thing and helps the situation as follows. First it provides a nice conductive ground plane for the outdoor antenna and secondly it will improve the RF isolation needed to prevent feedback between the indoor and outdoor antenna which enables higher amplifier gains to be used. So all good and good luck.Regards Al

August 17, 2017
7:58 AM PDT

by
Brendan

I found the 1-1/4" pipe, couplers, and metal strapping at Home Depot. I'm having a hard time locating the 2" pipe that gets,driven into the ground.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong department? Is it chain link,fence post by chance?1-1/4" is the largest my local Home Depot has

August 18, 2017
11:47 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan,Well that's strange since Canada HD used to carry it, but I see now it's only available instore in the US. I would suggest calling your local hardware stores (Home Hardware, Castle, etc) as someone should be able to order it in for you or go online to amazon.ca and look for Galvanized Cut Pipe, 2-Inch x 30-Inch.I guess we need to build more towers in Canada to keep that 2" pipe in stock.Good luck.

August 18, 2017
6:00 PM PDT

by
Tim

Enjoyed the read. My house is in the boonies, but by some miracle, I can receive LTE signal. The signal is fair to poor (-110 dBm). The nearest cell tower is apparently 40 miles away, transmitting at 1900 Mhz. Do you feel a directional antenna, booster, and indoor antenna would be advantageous in my situation? My current speeds are certifiably awful, ~0.2 Mbps down, ~0.5 Mbps up most times. This suggests to me that the tower is overloaded. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!

August 18, 2017
10:05 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Al, as it turns out there is absolutely no 1-1/4" galvanized threaded pipe in my area. Best I can do is a 4 hour round trip to the US to buy some. I've also found a 2" x 24" threaded "pipe nipple". This will work. I'd rather not drive so what they do have at my local Home Depot is that EMT conduit and couplers. It's kinda thin walled and no where near as thick as the threaded pipe. Do you think this would be good enough? My antennae is fairly light and directional so it's not going to catch wind. It's available in 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1-1/2", and also a whopping 2".

Also, instead of the 2" pipe into the ground as a "sleeve", why not,just drive the 1-1/4" pipe right into the ground?

I picked up the antennae and booster this evening, and was shocked that no one had the thicker,walled threaded pipe. I'll do,the drive if I have to.

Thanks

August 21, 2017
6:55 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Tim,If that tower is 40 miles away, I'm very surprised you are getting any signal as your cell phone does not transmit enough power to make the 40 miles return trip to that tower. I would suggest you check with your carrier to see if there is another tower that is nearer than you think. Many wireless carriers have co-sharing tower arrangements, hence the tower you are probably receiving from is closer than you think. As for the tower bring overloaded, although it could be since those speeds as you indicated are horrible, it's not likely overloaded. The quickest way to verify that is to take a drive closer to the tower (more bars on the cell phone) and then re-measure your speeds. I'm sure they will be significantly higher as you get closer to the tower, especially if it's LTE and not serving that many customers. If the speeds do significantly improve, then yes - a directional narrow-band (1900 Mhz) antenna, booster and indoor antenna would definitely help.Good LuckAl

August 21, 2017
7:17 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan,EMT conduit is "meant" to bend easily and around corners, so I doubt it would standup well to the elements. A slight wind could easily start the bending process for you and once it starts, it could end up badly. So not worth the risk in my opinion.As for the 2" sleeve into the ground, I found this was a very quick and easy way to hold the 1 1/4" pipe. I had 6 foot sections of 1 1/4" pipe and then a shorter 4 foot section of the 2" pipe that I literally sledge hammered into the ground which destroyed any fittings from ever going on the top of that pipe again. So if you drove in the 1 1/4" pipe into the ground, you would need to cut off the damaged pipe section from hammering and re-thread it for the coupler which is an option.Another way to do the sleeve is to pick up some 6" cement building tubes used for footings. Then dig a good size hole say 2 feet deep, place the 6" tube in it, then place the 1 1/4" pipe in it and fill the tube with quick setting cement. This would equally be a good footing for the pipe.Hope that gives you some ideas.Al

August 21, 2017
8:12 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Hi Al. I'm writing this comment from the cabin that now has "pretty good" internet.

I did a 4 hour round trip to grand forks ..... the only place that had threaded pipe. I opted for 1-1/2" pipe. 4 10 foot lengths of it. It is kinda heavy but solid. There's nothin gonna take it down! I wanted 1-1/4 " but it would have been 7 lengths of 60", and more couplers. So we only have 2 lengths of pipe for 20 ft. So far and we went from absolutely nothing to 4 bars. (Only at the booster but we can tether our iPads.). I'm hoping to only need one more pipe for 30 feet total. I. Leary of 4 lengths because of the weight. Hopefully 30 feet will give us Internet throughout. I,suspect the antennae are too close together and the booster is turning power down. Anyways I wanted to comment from the cabin, because you helped make it possible! Thank you!

August 22, 2017
10:55 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@BrendanBig Congrats! So some final comments and suggestions for you. As you couple the pipes together, I might suggest adding some thread lock to them just to ensure they don't spin and come undone. Otherwise ensure you use a good pipe wrench to thread them on, very tight. And depending on the weight, you might consider adding some guide wires at the top coupler but only if you see lots of sway. This will help ensure it does not sway to much with the wind.As for inside coverage and tethering, you could try this since reception/throughput will always be best near the indoor antenna. So place one of your cell phones by the indoor antenna for the 4 bars, then make it a WiFi hotspot for the ipads/tablets to tether to. This will ensure maximum internet speeds since the phone is getting the best cell signal from the inside antenna and then broadcasting that via WiFi tethering throughout your cabin for all the devices to connect to.I would also recommend a Bluetooth/DECT 6 cordless phone combination like the Panasonic KXTGE262S handset. Again, leave the cell phone(s) near the indoor antenna and the base station connects to them via Bluetooth. Now the cordless handset has a huge DECT 6 wireless range so you can receive/make calls from almost anywhere around the cabin. I typically have a handset with me on the beach so I can receive incoming calls there with full bars on my phone by the indoor antenna. And this phone even alerts you on text messages.Enjoy and congrats again.

August 22, 2017
3:49 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Al, I didn't use thread locker, but I did use a pipe wrench. Guy wires not needed. The 1-1/2" pipe does not move one bit in The wind. Only if I deliberately shake it. So right now, with the phones right next to the booster we can, at times pull in 4 bars of LTE! That's better than what I get in the city. We've been tethering. I'm totally happy, but my daughter wants it to be at home, I.e she can us her iPhone anywhere. I'm not sure if this is realistic? Coverage away from the booster varies time of day, and based on the provider.

We have 20 feet of pole right now. Do you think an extra 10 feet would be of any benefit ? It would be a chore to do it, and I'm inclined to leave well enough alone and enjoy 4 bars of LTE and simply tether (thanks for the Bluetooth tip!) but my daughter seems to think extra height will give a larger footprint.

She doesn't want to tether because...??????? Well I'm not sure why. Maybe because her iPhones is glued to her hand 24/7?

August 23, 2017
2:44 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan,Coverage from the indoor antenna will vary depending on the received signal strength from the outdoor antenna. So if pulling in a really weak signal, it will fall off quickly as you move away from the indoor antenna. Adding another 10' to the pole will only help if it removes any obstacles (like trees) from the path to the tower. If your tower is already above the tree line and has good line of sight to the nearest tower, then adding another 10 feet will not help. Hopefully that helps you decide.

As for improving the indoor coverage, if the amplifier has enough gain (70 db?) then you could try two indoor antennas by using a good RF splitter (see https://www.weboost.com/products/splitter-3-db-2-way-859957). Then one indoor antenna could be located where your daughter uses her iphone the most. The only caveat is the splitter does "split" the signal, so 50% to one antenna and 50% to the other antenna. So although you have two indoor antennas for increased coverage, each is operating at half the power. This is why a good amplifier is needed to compensate for that power loss.

Good luck.

August 24, 2017
5:46 PM PDT

by
Brendan

Hi Al. I forgot to ask what you used to secure the galvanized strapping to the eave? I've used deck screws but I have some lag bolts and washers. I'm guessing this would be a better choice ?

Our tower is 30 feet high. This is the limit we can go unless we start talking about a bracketed tower of about 100 feet or so which would be needed to get above the tree line. We have some very tall trees.

We do have the option of mounting the antennae in front of the trees but we are talking about at least 100 feet from the cabin. Right now the outdoor cable is 100 feet, so minus 30 feet leaves us with 70 feet of cable. We'd need about 150 feet of outdoor cable to get,the booster inside. Would a tree free antennae give a better signal that would offset the signal loss of the cable?

I have 3 options :

1. Live with what we have, and tether for Internet and just stand in the kitchen to make calls. This,is still 100% better than what we had which was nothing.

2. Bracketed tower of 100 feet to clear tree line.

3. Longer cable run (and possibly only 20 feet of height) to get in front of trees.

I'm ok with number one, but assuming I want to do better do,you think #2 or #3 is the better choice ?

August 25, 2017
6:44 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan,Yes, I'm a fan of lag bolts going into studs/wood to hold everything in place. Remember you want this to stay up and only want to do this once, not twice.

As for the trees, @1900 Mhz trees add about 1.2 db/m of attenuation and a good cable should be around 0.2 db/m. So tree loss definitely exceeds cable loss if that is the question. That said, a good high gain amplifier can compensate for some of this loss so it really comes down to what is acceptable and practical to the family. Your options 2 and 3 are indeed better but is it really worth the effort is the question for those extra db's of gain.

If tethering is the pain point, consider getting a WiFi cellular modem from your carrier and just place that near the indoor antenna. Then anyone can easily connect to it, without your phone being the hot spot.

Hope you're enjoying the project!

Al

August 27, 2017
10:41 AM PDT

by
Brendan

I looked into a bracketed tower and,was told around 3 grand for a self supporting one. No thanks. It's not my cabin, and I'm there for at the most 30 days per year. I'll continue to tether my iPad and if I need to make a call I can stand beside the booster. It's a far cry from having to walk for 20 minutes up a hill, stand on one foot while touching my nose. And hope the call goes through. (Usually only when it's pouring rain)

I also really like your suggestion of the Bluetooth cordless phones.

With no disrespect to you, or to hijack your blog, but I'd like to make a suggestion to your readers....

If your considering 1-1/2" threaded pipe in 10 foot lengths as I did..... don't. They are very heavy and 10 feet is too long to add pipe from the bottom to raise the tower. We had to build the tower on the ground and tilt it up. I was on the roof lifting the tower as others on the ground pushing up. It was a very humbling, scary experience.

I thought 1-1/2" would be more sturdy. It is, but way too heavy and overkill. I went with 10 foot lengths because I thought it'd be faster with less pipe lengths and couplers.

August 27, 2017
12:26 PM PDT

by
Shahzaib Nazir

I want to start a internet service in my city so how can i start it how can i make it and which devices are used for sending signals and which devices catches

August 27, 2017
5:47 PM PDT

by
Keith Searle

HiDoes the outside transmitter/receiver need to be connected by cable to the rest of the setup?

August 28, 2017
6:03 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brendan,I knew I used 1-1/4" and 6 foot sections for a reason. I literally did couple them together and pushed them up, one by one. Good to know that 1-1/2" especially in 10 feet sections is a "no-go", in the simplicity department, albeit it will probably withstand anything.As for the bluetooth phone, if you go that route make sure you get one that supports two phones at the same time. For example, my wife and I can both make and receive calls anywhere at the same time via the same base station with two handsets..

Cheers Al

August 28, 2017
6:06 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ShahzaibReally sorry but the intent of this blog post was for pulling in weak cell signals and not starting a full internet service. Sounds like a great project so good luck with it.Al

August 28, 2017
6:09 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Keith,In this setup, the outside narrow band antenna connects to the indoor bi-directional amplifier via a 50 ohm cable which then connects to the indoor antenna.Hope that helps.Al

September 7, 2017
9:03 AM PDT

by
krihan

can this be used as a fake tower for reading other peoples sms and calls?

September 7, 2017
9:59 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@KrihanGreat question and the answer is no. Now for the why. The tower only amplifies the Radio Frequency (RF) signal carrying the data to the service provider's cell tower and does not participate in the encrypted data link exchange with the service provider's network. The decoding of an individual cell connection requires specialized receivers and full prior knowledge of the encryption keys (one on the SIM card) and mechanism being utilized. Bottom line, your cell phone calls and text messages are totally safe from towers like the one in this blog.Again, great question and thanks for asking.

September 8, 2017
3:44 PM PDT

by
mark CARLISLE

I would need to locate the anrenna pole or mast up slope about 60 yards from my house. Will this cable length lose too much db to successfful?

September 11, 2017
11:33 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Mark,So we have 180 feet of cable to deal with, which is a long run but not impossible. And for this example I will assume we have a 50 ohm impedance system as the cable impedance must match the antenna and amplifier impedance. So an ultra low loss cable is critical for success as standard RG58 would introduce a loss of 20db at that distance and just not work. However if we use LMR600 that would introduce a loss of only 4.5 db @ 900 MHZ and 6.8 db at 1900 MHz. So I'm hoping you are using a lower frequency cell band around 800 Mhz. Bottom line with a good amplifier (>65 db of gain), a good narrow band directional antenna (>10 dbi) and only 4.5 db of cable loss should all render a very workable solution. Again, a good low loss cable is the key.Regards Al

September 17, 2017
6:18 PM PDT

by
Larry Reese

Al, great article but I am a neophyte when it comes to the technical stuff. I have a cabin in Tennessee, located in a valley, but I can go to the top of the hill (about 400 ft. higher) on my 4 wheeler and get reception. Sometimes, I can even receive a text when my iPhone is in the truck next to the cabin, but I can't send a text. On a few rare occasions, I have sent a text if I am out in the field in front of the cabin. Needless to say by phone normally says "No Service". Many years ago I had a Motorola phone (a brick) that I could hook up the magnetic car antenna and attach to the tin roof and receive reception. Putting an antenna on top of the hill is out of the question, about 1/4 mile away. My question is will the directional antenna system you built work if I am located in the valley and surround by trees.

September 18, 2017
7:02 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Larry,The good news is occasionally you can receive a text by the cabin, which means there is a signal there, albeit very weak. And mobile phones with 360 degree (omni) wide band antenna patterns cannot handle these fringe situations. So given that, I would say a cell tower like the one in this blog will provide you coverage in the cabin. As I've commented many times, a focused narrow band external antenna is critical, but let me explain that. Narrow band means the antenna was designed and optimized for a specific frequency band and not multiple bands. So if your provider is using the 850 Mhz band, then https://www.weboost.com/products/301111 is perfect which provides 10.8 dbi of gain. To explain that, antenna gain is an indication of just how focused the antenna beam/pattern is heading to the targeted tower. Kinda like a laser beam that stays focused (high positive gain) versus a flashlight beam that spreads out quickly (negative gain). If you're operating in the 2100 Mhz band, then you'll need a different antenna. And of course, a good bi-directional amplifier is key. My personal favorite is the https://www.weboost.com/products/connect-3gx that has 70 db of gain, cost effective and works on 4G as well. Hope that helps, but I'd say a solution like this, will provide you coverage you are looking for without going to the top of the hill.

Regards Al

October 19, 2017
12:26 PM PDT

by
@Sctb

Hi All,

Thinking seriously about moving to Belize, but the lack of internet and cell service is a deterrent. Your ideas and suggestions on how to identify local cell towers in Belize would be helpful. I have read through about 30+ post...is there a single post you can point me to with a shopping list of sorts and step by step instruction for a non-engineer to build their own cell tower and get high speed internet service? Your guidance would be greatly appreciated.

October 20, 2017
11:32 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@SctbSo for locating towers in Belize you can start with the opensignal.com website/app and then I would contact the cellular carrier's tech support department and ask them for the specifics of the nearest tower. Specifically ask them for the frequency and azimuth of the nearest tower.

As for building the tower, the blog post above does walk you through what needs to be purchased and how to build it.

Hope that helps but feel free to ask more questions here.

Regards Al

October 28, 2017
9:35 AM PDT

by
Nishant Kumar

I'm building a tower on my empty ground.

November 8, 2017
11:57 AM PST

by
Maureen

HiI'm in the Magdalen Islands and not only is my house not covered by cell phone coverage, but the internet cable connecting the land lines and internet service to the mainland is getting more and more spotty. I'm thinking of putting an antenna in place but the tower is hidden behind a hill and I can only get reception if I climb up the hill beside my house. The problem is that there, the cable would be a lot longer than 20 ft. I don't know how high I would have to have the tower to get a straight line over the hill between my house and the tower. Does transmission happen in a straight line? Another question: The tower closest to me is rated at 800mhz, 1900mhz and 2100mhz. What do the 1900 and 2100 figures represent?Thanks! And thank you for your innovative idea!

November 12, 2017
1:04 PM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@MaureenA cable longer than 20 ft is not a big issue, especially if you use ultra low loss cable like LMR600 you could easily go over 100 ft. As for height, how high do you need walk up the hill before you see any signal strength? That would be roughly the minimum height of the antenna you would need to install. And yes, transmission happens in relatively straight lines. The good news is the lower frequencies like 800 MHz, travel farther since they are not weakened (attenuated) as much by obstacles in the line of sight path like buildings and trees. As for the numbers 800, 1900 and 2100 they represent the various cellular frequency bands in megahertz which are highly regulated by each country's respective authority as to who can use them and their actual frequency allocation within that cellular frequency band. Hope that helps and good luck!

November 22, 2017
3:04 PM PST

by
Al Bell

Hey Al,

Thanks for sharing your experience. This is a very common problem in rural Canada, even just outside towns or cities.

I'm wondering if there's some way to calculate the broadcasting range of this homemade solution? In other words, how far from your cabin/house can you walk before you lose signal on your phone?

I'd like to know what might be involved in increasing signal over several acres of land. There's signal immediately outside these few acres, in the -105 to -125 db range (recorded with a cell phone with below-average poor antenna), so I'm confident a tower and booster would work, though I'm not sure about covering several acres with good signal.

Tree cover and other factors affect signal, so let's just pretend this is a flat field for the sake of simplicity.

Thanks again,Al

November 23, 2017
9:18 AM PST

by
Laurel

I know this is a more-than-basic question, but I have to ask. What method did you use to get high enough to assemble the tower? 30 feet is a long way up.

November 29, 2017
8:05 AM PST

by
Kyle

My house is in a small, steep valley where cell reception is zero at the house but nearly full bars if I climb a tree about 250 feet from my house up the hill.

November 29, 2017
8:08 AM PST

by
Kyle

Sorry didn't finish my last question. Is 250 feet too far to run cable to an antenna? I don't think a 20 foot tower would be high enough to get direct signal to the nearest cell tower

December 1, 2017
7:13 AM PST

by
Don Frederick

I live at the bottom of a steep narrow canyon. The nearest cell phone tower is on top of a tall hill surrounding the canyon. I currently have no signal and no direct line of site from my home to the cell tower because of the surrounding hills. Will your solution work for me or will I need to build a remote tower at the top of the hill that will capture the signal from the main tower and from there transfer the signal to my home?Thanks

December 1, 2017
8:45 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@LaurelSo getting the tower up 30' was a fun task for sure and does require 2 people. Now as noted in the article above I used 6 feet poles and this is manageable. However as noted by the comments above, someone tried using 10 feet poles and then that became very challenging . So if you can't find 6 feet poles, then have someone cut a 12 feet pole into two halves and just get them to re-thread the pole where it was cut. Then I installed two brackets on the side of the cabin with a bigger pipe in the ground below. Next I attached the antenna and antenna cable to the top of one 6' pole section and slide that through the two brackets on the side of the cabin from the roof. Using two brackets minimizes the pole tipping one way or the other. After that, I returned to the ground and literally just screwed the other 4 sections together and pushed the pole straight up. I would recommend putting some thread sealant on the pipe joints to ensure they do not twist off with the wind. It really was not that difficult if you have a helping hand and do it on a day with little to no wind. Hope that helps.Al

December 1, 2017
9:20 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@KyleSo if you get full bars up the tree, the real question becomes where do you get 1 bar since that's all you'll need for this solution to work. It would be interesting if you could attach your cell phone to a drone with the drone camera looking at the cell phone and just fly it up vertically 30 - 40 feet to see where the cell phone just starts to get reception. I'm willing to bet you don't need to go 250 feet from your home and it's more about increasing the antenna height. Once you go beyond 30 feet in height, it would be good to attach some guide wires at one of the pole couplers to provide additional stability and then attach the guide wires to the building or ground. All that said, you could go 250 feet with cable if using a lower cellular frequency band of 800 to 900 Mhz. You just need to use an ultra low loss cable like LMR600 (assuming 50 ohm impedance). LMR600 has a loss of 2db per 100' at 800 Mhz, so for 250 feet this would only a loss of 5 db and is very manageable. However, if your cellular frequency is 1800 Mhz the cable loss almost doubles to 10 db and then this starts becoming questionable as a solution. Hope that helps and good luck.Al

December 1, 2017
9:49 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@DonThe good news is the tower is on top of the hill and it will be broadcasting down into the valleys below. Now if the tower is within a 5 mile radius of your location, then there is probably some signal by your home if you go high enough with the outdoor antenna. All we need to make this solution work is a single bar on your cell phone and then this solution described above will increase that to reliable full bars inside your home. So the million dollar question is how high must one go, for which there is no easy way to find out. I personally like using a drone for this as I've noted in other comments where you fly the drone up to say 30 feet, let it sit there and see if a single bar of coverage can be found. If not, climb to 40 feet and try again or try another location around by the house until a single bar is found. I know various places will rent a drone, if that's an option you wish to consider. The concept of building a remote tower to act as a bridge for relaying the signal is interesting but in reality not practical nor feasible since this solution needs a stable indoor AC powered environment for all the electronics aspect. Another option would be to purchase the highest gain solution with a 30 day money back guarantee and then install that on a 30 to 40 foot pole to see if that works. If it does, then do all the cleanup with running the wires inside the house and the likes.Let us know how you make out if you try any of these ideas since it would be very interesting for everyone to know.Regards Al

December 28, 2017
6:08 AM PST

by
Raymond Weinel

Great info, thanks. Are there any concerns about placing the cell antenna in proximity to TV or Internet satellite dishes?

January 17, 2018
12:12 AM PST

by
Lisa

Hi Al, I really liked your article! I am currently working on a university project where we are looking at creating fast, make-shift cellular networks during the case of a natural disaster. For instance, during the Nepal earthquake, or during the wild fires in Napa Valley that destroyed some towers. We are wondering whether it would be possible to create a temporary make-shift network for a small number of users, potentially using drones to distribute antennas in a network. I feel like you know a lot about this topic, and was wondering whether you would be willing to jump on a quick phone call with me to discuss this idea. Thanks a lot!

February 20, 2018
8:27 AM PST

by
c. Pedersen

Hi, nice setup for boosting your cell phone signals. Just curious what the appropriate cost was for your setup.Could a hi gain antenna without a booster be used to transmit a signal to an indoor low gain antenna ?

March 2, 2018
1:51 AM PST

by
Dawa Wangdi sherpa

I need a help for good networks coverage

March 8, 2018
10:08 AM PST

by
paul

Al,

Have rural property in texas about 5 miles from the nearest ATT tower, but signal is weak for cell/data. There is a 50 feet old radio operator tower on the property about 100 ft from the house. If I put the outside antenna on the tower and then run cable back to the house and the amplifier, will this same system work or will the cable length to the house cut into the effectiveness

April 13, 2018
2:09 PM PDT

by
Jennifer Harshman

Hi Al,Thank you for this great article. I just bought a new home in the mountains which sits in a canyon, there is no cell signals and only one home phone provider to choose from. I've gone without a phone since I moved here in December. Thanks to your article I now have a working cell, for a total cost of $230 dollars. The set up was a little challenging because I did it by myself and had to go up 40 feet to get a signal using 10 foot poles but the struggle was well worth it. Thanks again for sharing.

May 1, 2018
8:44 AM PDT

by
Patrick

Thanks for your article AlOur cottage is in a valley in Quebec and we get 1 bar of signal at best, so I was all set to purchase the equipment you used from Wilson, but had trouble ordering the 55 dB gain amplifier. I was able to find a Wilson in-line post amplifier +19dB 75 ohm ($349 https://wilsonamplifiers.ca/in-line-post-amplifier-19db-75ohm-w-f-female-806715/)but couldn’t add it to my checkout cart. I called the company and they stated these amplifiers aren’t available anymore because they are outlawed. I tried eBay but also couldn’t find an amplifier.

I was planning on mounting the antenna on a rock cliff abot 60 feet from our cottage and up about 40 feet above our cottage, so it should have a clear line (through the forest) to the nearest tower, but now I’m stuck without an amplifier.

Any suggestions?

May 6, 2018
12:11 PM PDT

by
Christina Deese

So I'm thrilled that we found your article. I'm struggling HARD with Verizon and their spotty service. No one else services our home area. We LOVE where we live, and it's a dream, but I work from home and need good reliable phone/internet service. After 2.5 years here I figured we would just have to deal with it. Reading this, it seems like there may be hope! (Maybe I can FIRE my satellite internet provider!)

I have a few questions tho:

1. What would be the average cost of building this if we didn't have any of the materials. I've been looking into the WeBoost cell signal boosters, but I didn't know if it would work without the extra antenna?

2. We have an old TV antenna attached to our Chimney, the 1990's kind. Would that work? Could I maybe find out how to rig it to work as an antenna?

3. I am "so so" tech savvy, much further behind that you.... I work on my computer and smaller things, but nothing this large. Any advice on how to tackle a big project like this for someone who doesn't know the difference in cable types?

Thanks so much!

June 2, 2018
12:26 PM PDT

by
Bob

Hey Al, thanks for the great article. My problem is similar to some other folks. Our cabin is deep in a heavily wooded area of TN, situated between two ridge lines approximately 400 feet high. We are at the bottom of in the little valley directly between the ridge lines. There are thick woods all around us and covering most of the distance between us and the 8 miles to the nearest AT&T tower. Using the 'signal strength" feature on my Android phone, I get nada, zip, zilch. It also says 'no network' and 'no signal.'

That said, I can sporadically send and receive text messages, and others have on occasion been able to make and receive voice calls from our front porch (very much hit or miss though, usually 'miss.')

Putting my Android phone in 'signal strength' mode and leaving our place by car, I get a signal in the -125 dec range as I near the crest of the ridge line (probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the cabin and maybe 200 or 300 feet above it). The display records 'LTE' as the network type.

The info on the Wilson/Weboost site seems to indicate that you need some signal to boost, and by the method they recommend to measure that, I've got no signal. However, given the ability to text as well as others occasional success in calling, I can help but think there's something there. I'd really like to try to improve things, but neither do I want to invest in equipment that ends up becoming expensive paperweights.

Any thoughts? Suggestions welcome.

Thanks - Bob

June 3, 2018
9:36 PM PDT

by
felipe

hi how are you i want makei it my owner mobile carrier whit open bts and what more now i have a wi fi red but need a send step gsm company same like a att or telcel but ned help is gor all comunities for my country thanks in advance

June 4, 2018
8:32 PM PDT

by
Thomas L.

How far can I run the cable from the outdoor antenna to the indoor antenna without fail? I ask this mainly due to happy wife, happy life. She suggested I mount my outdoor antenna pole at the bar. Which is approx 100ft from the house. AT&T is the closest tower which poor connection outside. Inside you can forget it. I am really considering building my own like you did, but need figure out my distances.

June 7, 2018
7:35 AM PDT

by
Dorothy Sikorski

IIs this going to work for 5G?

June 10, 2018
5:00 AM PDT

by
Muralikarthick

My phone signal strength very week in my home so i get poor network connection how to i get good network connections please help me

July 4, 2018
10:30 AM PDT

by
GTS

Al, Thans for posting. The main question I have after reading this is whether I should just try the WeBoost Connect 4G first. It seems (to a luddite like me) that this is the same thing are doing but that the outdoor antenna is probably not as focussed? Is that correct? Like many commenters I am in a rural canyon and can get a very weak (Verizon 1x) signal on one place on my property, and I need LTE (1/8 a mile a way I get 2 bars LTE). I'm in between 2 mountain ridges but if I can get any signal I assume I can improve on that, but I find due excellent instructions confusing and would rather just use the kit if it's the same thing. Thanks so much. I put the link to the kit below if you dont know what I'm referring to.

So welcome to consumer kit simplicity versus a properly engineered repeater system, and unfortunately in my experience the two just never meet. And I personally apologize to other posters here for not responding. I will answer the outstanding questions here soon.So let's get started in this numbers game starting with the antenna.

The difference between using a directional Yagi like I did versus the LPDA (Log-Periodic Dipole Array) antenna in this kit, is a Yagi antenna operates in a narrow frequency range, however with much higher gain, a very good thing. The LPDA antenna operates in a much wider frequency range with much lower gain. Welcome to engineering design trade-offs. So the LPDA antenna is more consumer friendly operating over more cellular frequency bands with reasonable gain than a high gain frequency specific Yagi antenna. The antenna I used (a weboost 301111) has 13 dbi of gain @800 Mhz where the LPDA being offered in this kit is only 7.3 dbi. That is a huge difference of almost 6db at 800 Mhz which means the LPDA antenna captures only one quarter (25%) of the signal power that a Yagi antenna would capture. That 6db is very significant if you are in a weak cell phone area and unfortunately no amount of amplifier gain can compensate for a low signal input from the antenna.

Now, let's talk about cables. The 75 ohm kit includes fixed length RG6 cables which are easier and more flexible to use from a consumer perspective however RG6 introduces additional loss of 6db per 100 feet, where a 50 ohm system with LMR-400 cable is only 3.5db per 100 feet and LMR-600 cable is only 2.5 db per 100 feet. However, the cable is thicker and much harder to handle, again a design trade off. Easy to handle and connect versus optimized design... contd in Part 2

July 9, 2018
6:04 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

Part 2 of 2Now the amplifier #470103 offers a maximum gain of 65 db, however according to the user manual (back pages) @800 Mhz the nominal gain is only 57.2 db. Hence for performance, it's purely a numbers game, that is antenna gain, minus cable loss, minus any splitter loss, minus connector loss, plus amplifier gain all defined at the cellular frequency of interest. The bigger that sum number is, the better your chances are of improving your cellular reception.

As for me, my personal preference is to work with a Weboost partner that allows you to pick and choose the components including the length of cable you actually need to connect everything. The shorter the cable, the lower the loss.

Hope that helps and as always, if you buy the kit just ensure you have a 30 day refund policy with no restocking fees.

That was a great question and thanks for asking

Al

July 9, 2018
6:55 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Dorothy,

Fantastic question and the answer is with the right components yes. The principles for amplifying and repeating a cellular (radio frequency) signal remain the same. However, because the cellular frequency and polarization used by 5G is different than 3G/4G, the antennas and amplifier will need to be designed for 5G and I’m not aware of any vendors currently designing 5G repeater solutions.

In addition, the frequency bands being allocated to 5G are significantly higher that 3G/4G typically 28 GHz and higher. Because of higher signal attenuation caused by the atmosphere, trees, buildings, etc. in the signal path at these higher frequencies, the range will be significantly reduced from the 5G transmission antenna that will probably be located on a street light or power pole. This is why I like the 800 MHz cellular band since it has the greatest range from the tower.

So 5G repeaters (when available) is not the answer for people in remote areas since unlikely there will be any nearby 5G cells they can capture and repeat. However in urban areas, where one could just be outside of a 5G cell, a repeater solution could make sense to gain access to the incredibly bandwidth that 5G will deliver.

Hope that helps.

Regards Al

July 9, 2018
7:11 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ThomasHappy wife and yes happy life, couldn’t agree more.

Now let’s talk about cabling, like 100’ of it. First, I'm a fan of N-type (versus BNC) connections and 50 ohm (versus 75 ohm) cabling. So, referring to http://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html you'll see that RG58/U has an attenuation (loss) of 16.5 db per 100 feet at 900 MHz which is a huge number. However, by using LMR-400 (what I used), this number drops to 3.9 db /100 feet at 900 MHz, which is a significant removal of 12.6 db of loss over 100 feet. Keep in mind that 1 db could be the difference between a working signal and no signal. Now I've also seen people accidentally mix up cable and device types. So if your system is 50 ohms impedance, make sure all devices; antennas, amplifier and cable have an impedance of 50 ohms and not 75 ohms. A mismatch in impedance between any two connections seriously impacts performance.

So 100’ of cable is very doable with the right cable. If the cost for LMR-600 is not radically higher than LMR-400, then I would use LMR-600 (assuming 50 ohm system) which will reduce the loss by another 1.5db over 100 feet.

Hope that helps and makes your life happier.

Regards Al

July 9, 2018
8:03 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@BobThe fact you can occasionally send/receive text messages and the odd phone call indicates there is some signal available to you to make this solution work. I had the same issue where at my cabin door if I turn my amplifier off, I have no signal at all. That said, if I walked up a nearby hill, then the signal starts to appear again. Now since you’re in a fringe area, to maximize success we need to design your system for maximum gain and minimum loss. I would start by calling tech support at AT&T to see what frequency bands and azimuth the nearest tower is operating at. Typically, carriers operate at more than frequency and have multiple antenna’s that are aimed (the azimuth) at various coverage areas. Ideally AT&T will have an antenna pointed your way operating in the 700-850 MHz band. With that information, you can now work with a Weboost partner to select the components you need, including low loss cabling in the lengths you need. I would recommend a real Yagi antenna for the absolute maximum gain versus the newer LPDA antennas that some people call a Yagi antenna, however in reality they are not (see my other response to GTS in this blog to address that issue).

The next aspect will be a antenna tower/pole to capture that weak signal higher up. My tower is 30 feet high which is pretty well the maximum height one can go without using any guide wires on the pole. Of course the higher you go, the better.

And finally, all Weboost partners should offer you a 30 day full refund just in case it does not work which eliminates the possibility of having expensive paperweights.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Regards Al

July 9, 2018
8:52 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@ChristinaGlad you enjoyed the article and hope it helps. Now to answer your questions.

The main cost for this solution is the bi-directional amplifier. If you’re in a fringe area, the amplifier gain should be around 65-70 db which would bring your total cost to around $1,000 USD. Now there are “lower cost” solutions available on the market, however I like working with a company like Weboost who have great technical support, warranty programs and work closely with the various carriers to ensure their systems are certified with them.

As for the antenna, this is a critical component of the system design and really needs to be purchased. Other antenna’s like TV have a different impedance and designed to work over different frequency ranges and polarizations, making them unsuitable for use in this type of solution. Antennas are the unsung hero in these types of solutions, since a proper antenna significantly improves the performance of the system where the improper antenna totally cripples the system no matter how good the amplifier is.

Now for your final question. Although we have many cable types in this industry, just think of that like all the various types of motor oil we have. We have SAE 10w30, 90W, synthetic, etc. It’s all about reading the engine manual to ensure you use the right grade of oil for that engine and then for improved performance there's the option of using synthetic. Same for cables and in this case, our engine is the amplifier. My preference is an amplifier that has a 50 ohm impedance and uses a good “N type” antenna connector. With that, selecting all the other components becomes easier and make sure you use a good low-loss cable like LMR-400.

Any weboost partner you select to work with, will ensure all the components work properly together making your task of connecting it all up, much simpler.

Good luck and hope that helps.

Al

July 9, 2018
9:13 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Patrick,Unfortunately in Canada, resellers are only authorized to sell the repeater as a “complete kit” I'm told. The best match would be the weboost Connect-4G-X https://www.weboost.ca/products/connect-4gx

I discovered this aspect when I recently wanted to upgrade the amplifier of my system. No one in Canada would sell me just the new amplifier saying I needed to purchase a complete kit or alternatively I could go to the US.

As a result, I ended up ordering the amplifier from a US Weboost partner (Rocksignal - http://www.rocksignal.com/ ) instead, albeit the exchange rate was a killer.

Hope that helps.

Regards Al

July 9, 2018
9:30 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Paul,

That’s awesome you have access to a 50 feet radio tower, which removes the toughest aspect of this project. The only remaining challenge is to use a good low loss cable like LMR-400 or LMR-600 (if 50 ohm system) and I would invite you to read the answer I posted to Thomas above. The signal loss of 4 to 6 db introduced by the extra cable in this situation will be manageable in my opinion due to superior signal capture from being 50 ft up.

And I would encourage using a high gain directional Yagi antenna coupled with a good high gain amplifier to complete the solution.

Regards Al

July 9, 2018
12:05 PM PDT

by
brett

Hi - I need to get above a 60' sand dune that is about 100' behind our cottage to get a good signal. Any suggestions on how to adapt your concept to our situation? Thanks

July 9, 2018
12:52 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Brett,It “may” not be as bad as you think. Appreciate that your cell phone has an omni directional antenna so it’s looking 360 degrees to find a signal and collecting noise as well. A directional antenna as described in this article looks in one direction only and can pull the weaker signal out at lower heights.

As a result you may need not 60’ in height and 40’ could work using galvanized poles like I did. Of course, if you go above 30’ I recommend adding in some guide wires as well.

It also depends on the elevation of the cell towers (plural) in your area. I would suggest calling tech support of your carrier and ask about the nearest cell towers they have in your area appreciating that the “nearest” cell tower may not be the one that works best. It all depends on the frequency, elevation and azimuth of the towers in the area. For example, a tower further away that is elevated higher and aimed your way would be better than one that is closer but lower in elevation height.

As a worst case scenario, junk yards are filling up with old tall analog TV towers. You could probably pick up an old 50’ foot TV tower inexpensively and use that, since I’m sure 50’ would solve the problem.

Good luck and hope that helps. If you proceed, please let us know how it worked out.

Regards Al

July 10, 2018
6:38 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@c.PedersenTo answer your question about using a high gain external antenna with a low gain indoor antenna without any booster. This approach is possible and called a “passive” repeater design but the gain (improvement) of the system will be very low. For example, using a 13 dbi external antenna with an indoor antenna gain of 4 dbi, minus cable and connector loss say of 4db, would provide a net gain of 13 dbi (+13 +4 -4). Now to put this into perspective. A received cell signal strength of -60 dbm is awesome while -110 dbm is call dropping ugly. So, if you want to improve a weak signal from -110 dbm, this would only improve it by 13 db to -97 dbm which is still a very weak signal, but yes, it is better than -110 dbm and could prevent a call from dropping.

Great question.

Regards Al

July 11, 2018
7:50 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@LisaThis is a very cool idea and I would encourage you to contact various cell phone booster companies like WeBoost and others to see if they would participate with you.

I agree drones are very cool, however antennas tend to be awkward to maintain in place even by a drone especially if there is any wind. Not to mention we have limited power availability on the drone as well. I would suggest looking at 50 foot telescopic mask assemblies for raising the external antenna as high as possible and then using sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries to power the amplifier system up.

One example of such a company is BlueSky Mask ( http://blueskymast.com/ ). They are government focused but the idea is there. In fact this could be a great mechanical engineering project as well.

Good luck and awesome idea.

Regards Al

July 12, 2018
12:11 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@RaymondAs a rule of thumb, each antenna should have an unobscured line of sight to its target. Now radio, TV and satellite antennas are “receive” only so they can literally be side-by-side if you like, as long as they are not in the line of sight of each other. Now this system and HAM (amateur) radio operators have antennas that “transmit” in addition to receive which changes the rules. Ideally, we don’t want any transmit radio frequency (RF) energy to enter into another antenna of similar frequencies since it could cause signal overload on the receiver connected to that antenna. If using a directional transmit antenna like the one used in this article, we need to ensure there are no antenna’s in front of it and all good. However, if the transmit antenna is omni-directional, meaning it sends RF energy in every direction then it becomes more challenging to manage with other antennas on the roof/tower especially if they operate in similar frequency bands. For example, UHF TV channels operate from 470 to 890 Mhz, so there is channel overlap with the lower 800 Mhz cellular bands. In this case we need to keep these antennas separated by as much space as possible and pointed away from each other.

That’s a great antenna question.

Regards Al

July 30, 2018
5:50 PM PDT

by
Chris @ the end of the earth

I've been dealing with a constantly degrading signal for some time. I was inspired by your antenna. Here's what I have: an rx0@ -97 dBm and an rx1@ -127. Please help me try to understand this?

July 31, 2018
12:40 PM PDT

by
Rosie

Hello,Very interesting article - thank you! I am looking to do something similar - although this will be for long term camping in a tent and I was wondering if you knew how to boost signal for just outside (as there is no inside)? I only really need to have coverage in one spot. What would you recommend? Many thanks in advance!

August 24, 2018
1:14 PM PDT

by
Emma

Thanks for this article. I'm wondering how far I can be from my nearest cell tower. I'm with Freedom Mobile and their towers seem to be at 2100 MHz. I think we have pretty good line of sight from 16km away but I have no way of knowing and it sounds like that's not even realistic for a 2100 MHz band.

August 27, 2018
7:59 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@EmmaSo Freedom are using Band 4, which means the uplink frequency is 1710 Mhz while the downlink is 2110 Mhz and yes, 16 km is pushing the limits but not impossible especially if you have a good line of sight to the tower as the attenuation is only atmospheric with little to no foliage attenuation. Your success also depends on how much power Freedom Mobile is transmitting at the tower. So the challenge is to optimize the RF design for 1700-2100 Mhz. Unfortunately Band 4 Yagi antennas are tough to find but not impossible and you should be able to find one that offers a minimum gain of 13 db across the complete band. The LPDA wideband antenna from Weboost offers a gain of 10.4 dbi at 2100 Mhz but drops to 9.2 db at 1710 Mhz, so a Yagi will definitely increase our chances of success with more than double the power of a LPDA antenna. The amplifier is also a critical element, so ensure you select one with maximum band 4 gain. The weboost Connect 4G-X offers a solid gain of 64.8 db for Band 4. I'm hopeful you can make this work with a good line of sight to the tower but as always ensure whoever you buy this from offers a 100% refund if it does not work. Good luck and have fun with the project.

Regards Al

August 27, 2018
8:46 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@RosieI believe what you're looking for is a mobile solution like the Weboost Drive Sleek which has a cradle you place your phone in and a small outdoor antenna that you can place on a tent pole outside the tent. There is still an amplifier that can use either 12V from the car battery or 5V from a USB battery pack which is useful to have when camping. This type of mobile/portable solution is for a single phone and offers limited gain of up to 23 db, so some signal needs to exist before this type of solution will work. Another option is the Drive 4G-X solution which has a simple outdoor and interior antenna that will support multiple phones inside the tent or on a picnic table which offers twice the gain of up to 50 db. However in this case a 12V car battery is required to power the amplifier which could be used with a power inverter to power other items, like a coffee maker. Hope that helps and happy camping, with cell phone coverage.Regards Al

August 27, 2018
9:09 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@Chris @the end of the earthSo hoping your still on planet earth and I'll try to explain those numbers, albeit I need to know more information about your phone, the mode it was in and your carrier to more precise. So it's likely (best guess) that those numbers are showing you the voice receive signal strength (rx0) and the data receive signal strength (rx1). When the voice signal strength drops to -100 dbm or lower the voice call is in danger of dropping and at -110 dbm there is typically no signal. So -97 dbm is on the fringe of having the call drop. On the data side there is typically 10 db more of margin, so at -110 dbm the data connection is at risk of dropping and at -120 dbm is typically no data signal. Hence at -127 dbm, I gotta believe the data signal is gone. Bottom line, these are very weak signal levels so a booster would definitely help improve your reception at the end of the earth.

Regards Al

September 8, 2018
5:52 PM PDT

by
barb

what would u guesstimate total cost is? does this extend cell signal outside as well, or just inside? Thanks!

September 10, 2018
6:23 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@BarbThe costs for these systems can vary greatly, especially depending on the manufacturer you select. My favorite system that I use and recommend to my friends is the WeBoost Connect 4G-X ( https://www.weboost.com/products/connect-4gx ) with a proper Yagi antenna as per my response to GTS above. A system like this would cost approximately $1,000 USD.

As for the cell signal outside, the signal extends outwards from the indoor antenna depending on which one you select. A ceiling indoor antenna provides for all around 360 coverage and a wall mount provides coverage in front of the indoor antenna. As I have the dome antenna on my cabin ceiling by the front door, guests can use their cell phone on our front porch with no problem.

Hope that answers your questions and if it helps this has been an expense I've never regretted since it allows me to work remotely from my cabin on the lake, anytime, any season..

September 11, 2018
8:21 AM PDT

by
Vicki

Great information. We are on top of a mountain with no surrounding trees at 8700 feet in Colorado. We have had great service with ATT until about a year ago. We can see the tower about 8 miles away as the crow flies but it went down with "promises" of upgrading it. The town (population 42) and school are 4 miles away with a mountain between us. Their ATT tower resisters -51on my phone but I have no signal unless I'm at the school. My dbm''s show our best signal is from a town 35 miles away, usually -101 to -119. We tried the Weboost and sure call with no improvement. The signal was bouncing off different towers. We have no landlines and we use our phone for everything, (mobile hotspot for internet and calls) Any suggestions?

September 13, 2018
8:01 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@VickiReally sorry to hear the AT&T tower when down. That said, if your cell phone can see a signal of -101 then a weboost solution should work for you but it will need to be "designed" for that specific cellular frequency you are receiving and unfortunately not an "off the shelf kit" which tries to be more universal and cost effective but with lower overall system gain. Now depending on your phone, when it is placed in diagnostic mode you should be able to see the mode and band the phone is operating on when you receive that -101 dbm signal. For example right now my phone is in HSPA+ mode operating on Band 2 which is 1900 MHz. Once you know that, then the key aspect is getting an outdoor yagi antenna designed for that frequency and then using ultra low loss cable to connect everything. The yagi antenna has a very high gain and extremely focused which should be able to pull in that -101 dbm signal and boost it for a good mobile connection.

Hope that helps and good luck.

September 18, 2018
11:00 AM PDT

by
John I

Thanks so much for the amazing info! I am trying it to be too optimistic, but it sounds like I should be able to boost my signal fairly easy. I have Tmobike as a carrier and we tend to attain 2 bars on our iPhones outdoors. I climbed on my roof, about 30 ft at the peak, and noticed the signal was still two bars. I am thinking of using an old satellite mount to attach your setup to and boost the signal indoors. Any points of advice other than to follow your instructions closely? And, our home has three floors, should I put an indoor antenna in each floor, if so is there an amp that provides three outputs? Thanks! - John

September 18, 2018
12:49 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@John I (Part 1 of 2)Well you certainly have a head start over most of my followers with 2 bars of signal strength so that part is awesome. Now as T.Mobile are licensed for 5 different frequency bands starting at 600 Mhz and going all the way up to 2100 Mhz, we need to make sure we design this solution for the lowest band available off that cell tower you're connecting to. A quick call to T.Mobile support should give you the answer you need. As for using an old satellite mount on the peak of the roof - that should work fine as long as you secure it properly so it does not twist in the wind and I would recommend attaching a ground wire to it just in a case of a near lighting strike and this way we route that electrical power to ground quickly and not through the house.

As for the question about an indoor antenna on each floor. It really depends on the use case for how often it would be used on that floor and I would not depend on one antenna being able to cover the complete house. Many people install wall mount antennas so the receive pattern is for anyone in front of that antenna and not on another floor. A ceiling mount antenna could probably beam through one floor but not two. And since each antenna needs signal power, the more antennas you have, the less power at each antenna. That means two indoor antennas will split the signal power in half with 50% (-3db) loss to each indoor antenna. Three indoor antennas means splitting the signal power in thirds (-4.8 db) to each indoor antenna.

... continued

September 18, 2018
12:52 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@John I (Part 2 of 2)Now the good news is that you can easily start with just doing 2 floors and then add the third floor at another time or start with three and then if that proves to be too much loss drop back to two. The only aspect that changes is the splitter beit a 2 way splitter (https://www.weboost.com/products/splitter-3-db-2-way-859957) with 3 db of loss per port or a three way splitter (https://www.weboost.com/products/splitter-4-8-db-3-way-859980) with 4.8 db of loss per port and the associated indoor antenna and cabling. The outdoor antenna and amplifier remain the exact same.

So my favorite design as most readers know starts with the Yagi antenna on your roof for maximum gain. Then you'll need a very high gain amplifier since it needs to power two or three internal antennas. As a result, try to minimize the length of the RF cables as much as "practical" to minimize cable loss while using ultra low loss cable. For this design you need to find a retailer that will cut RF cables to the specific lengths you require and not use pre-manufactured lengths. For the placement of the indoor antenna's on each floor, place them in the area where people generally have their cell phones.

That should do it and have fun on that 30' peaked roof. So glad it's you and not me.

Regards Al

September 26, 2018
8:31 AM PDT

by
larry

I read your advice on getting cell signal i have a older wilson system DT4G it is a 75 ohm system can it still provide the results that you get with the 50 ohm system that you use or do i need to invest in a newer system i get only one bar at best now getting ready to go up higher with what i have to see if it helps have at&t phones live in between two hills with three towers around 7 miles and less the way a crow flys any advise would helpful thanks for your help so far

September 26, 2018
1:42 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@LarryThat DT4G is older for sure with amplifier gains from 50 to 60 db, which is respectable depending on where you are. Now this unit is a bit of an odd ball in that the inside antenna is 50 ohm impedance and the outside is 75 ohm impedance. So you need to be careful on what cable types you use for each as a mismatch will seriously impact performance. For the outside antenna connection, you can use RG-11 (preferred) or RG-6 as both are 75 ohm. Since RG-6 has a much higher signal loss than RG-11, RG-11 is preferred as cable loss is bad and something we need to minimize. For the inside antenna cable, you need RG-213 (OK) or RG-218 (Better) or RG-220 (Best) to reduce the cable loss especially compared with RG174. See http://www.timesmicrowave.com/calculator/ to calculate the actual cable loss for your length of run and frequency band as it is amazing to see the actual loss difference by changing the cable type, especially if one remembers a 3 db loss means 50% of the signal is lost. Finally changing the outside antenna to a high gain directional antenna will make a huge difference especially as you mount it higher. So have faith in that DT4G as it can probably still do the job you need it to do.

Good luck and hope that helps.Al

September 27, 2018
10:05 AM PDT

by
larry

thanks for the advice, i am in the process of going up about 30 feet above the roof so will be around 50 to 60 feet of cable to to booster, am going to change location of the inside antenna. also would it be better to go with the lmr 400 cable in the 75omh out side. the towers that are close are 700mhz. thanks again for your help

September 27, 2018
11:41 AM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@LarryGeneric LMR 400 is 50 ohm so make sure you get the 75 ohm variant typically called LMR 400-75. And yes, LMR 400-75 is a much better choice than RG-11 so congrats on doing the cable homework that many dislike.Regards Al

September 28, 2018
8:46 AM PDT

by
larry

thanks again for your help

October 2, 2018
2:44 AM PDT

by
david hilley

I live in NC in a low area in mountains, I am on the tmobile network. I can get good signal at top of hill on my property about 100 yards away and a very weak signal at my drive entrance, do you think a 30' tower as you describe would work for me? Also how can I find my nearest cell tower? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

October 2, 2018
12:37 PM PDT

by
Al Lounsbury

@DavidSince you actually have a signal at your drive entrance, a 30' tower like described in this blog should work for you. As for finding the nearest tower(s) to your location, the best method is to call tech support for your carrier (T-Mobile) and ask them for the location of "towers" in your area and verify what frequency they are operating on as well. The reason I say towers, is sometimes the nearest tower to your location is not the best due to poor line of site caused by hills, trees, etc. So sometimes a tower further away has a better/clearer line of site with lower power loss to your location than one that is closer. You can also try the OpenSignal app on your phone or go to https://www.cellmapper.net which does provide information on towers in the US.

Next is the fine tuning aspect of the directional outside antenna which must be done before mounting the indoor antenna permanently as we need to ensure that we don't cross the antenna beams/patterns. As described in the article above, you'll need to place your phone into a test mode to get the current receive signal strength updated every second. Once you do that, just turn the outside antenna slowly around the bearing where you know the tower is located to find the maximum signal strength. So if you have two towers to test against, say one at a bearing of 90 degrees true and another at 270 degrees true from your house, then turn the antenna say from 80 to 100 degrees and record the maximum signal strength, and then do the same for the other tower in this case from 260 to 280 degrees. Once done, just fix the antenna at the location that provided the maximum signal strength and all done.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Al

November 24, 2018
9:19 AM PST

by
Ken

I would like to try to retrieve signal from an elevation of approx. 800 ft. Could I connect two boosters in line and pull signal down in valley with directional antenna. It looks like that a person could do this, like we use to boost db for telephone network. Is this possible?

November 26, 2018
6:05 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@Ken,It sounds like you would like to create an intermediate amplifier site between the tower and your location to bring in the cell signal since placing amplifiers back to back unfortunately does not work for multiple reasons. Now technically an intermediate amplifier site is possible. The challenge becomes weatherproofing and power at the intermediate site and complete lack of technical support since that configuration is not supported by any manufacturers I'm aware of.Hopefully that answers your question, but if not - please provide more details of what you are trying to accomplish.

Regards Al

December 10, 2018
4:24 AM PST

by
Todd DeNoyer

Al,First of thanks for your blog!I run a video company that has the ability to upload video from the sporting event. We upload the clip to the cloud using cell phone data. How would I make your system portable enough that I could set it up in 15-20 minutes at a field so that I could have a strong enough signal to push up the video and spectators could download to watch instant replay?We have already created a 25' fiberglass telescopic mast to mount our video camera to shoot the event.Could we use the same mast to mount the necessary antennas? Could we use battery power for the amplifier?Thanks for any help.

December 10, 2018
7:42 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@Todd (Part 1 of 2)What a cool application, and yes with a couple of tweaks this can work well for you. Now since your video shoot location changes one never knows what cell towers will be in the area for you to connect to. As a result, using a Wide-Band and not a Yagi directional antenna offers the best solution for this application like the Weboost 314411.

As for battery power, the simplest solution is to use one of the amplifiers that uses 12 VDC as the source, like the Connect 4G-X. This amplifier also covers many of the cellular bands while providing up to 70db of amplification. I'm not a fan of using power inverters (UPS's) to power the amplifier AC adapters since inverters produce a lot of line noise onto the power line which we need to minimize for best results. So one could use a 12 volt car battery or any 12V Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery available from numerous suppliers. I personally use PowerSonic SLA batteries for all my needs and you can check out their battery lineup at http://www.power-sonic.com/images/powersonic/literature/SLA_Batteries/ProductFlier6PageInOrder.pdf .

.. continued in part 2

December 10, 2018
7:42 AM PST

by
Al Lounsbury

@Todd (Part 2 of 2)And to explain battery sizing/capacity in AmpHours (AH). Since this amplifier draws approx. 2 amps @ 12 VDC, a battery rated for 12 Amp Hours would typically last 6 hours (12 AH divided by the 2 amp load) from a full charge. And if you do decide to use batteries ensure you use a low voltage cutout relay (available from Amazon and many others) to turn the DC power off to the amplifier if the battery voltage drops below 11 volts.

For the indoor antenna, the Weboost 311135 which is a wall mount would need to be mounted on a board that you could then strap to a pole in the area where you need coverage.

So yes, this is very doable. Now the components reference in this reply are for a 50 ohm impedance system using N type connectors. If you decide to change up some aspects just ensure all components including the cable are all for the same impedance and connector type.

Good luck and again, cool application.

Regards Al

December 13, 2018
8:13 PM PST

by
Mark

HiHas anyone used this in Baja Mexico?What advice do you have to make it work best?Thanks